This invention relates to a multilayer label.
The problem has long existed in multilayer labels that, during production of such multilayer labels, in principle it must be checked at all times if in fact all layers of this multilayer label are present. In this connection, experience shows that it suffices not only to monitor the presence of the individual layers of the multilayer label but under certain circumstances it can also be necessary to determine if each layer is in the right position on and in the multilayer label.
Since the individual layers of a multilayer label are often applied not with a small spatial and/or temporal distance between them, such monitoring is connected with an unavoidably high logistical and organizational outlay.
On the other hand, multilayer labels, precisely when they are used, for example, in pharmaceutical applications, involve technically exact, not uncomplicated products in which each individual layer usually has a special task and function. Not only an absence, but also a shifting or a twisting of a layer can lead to a malfunction and thus to unusability of the overall multilayer label.
Such a malfunction and consequent unusability not only produces serious consequences leading to the multilayer labels, produced for the most part with errors or defects in very large numbers, no longer being marketable because they are rejects which, for the producer, leads to undesirable labor and material losses and high costs, but also carries a certain danger to the extent that such an error or defect remains unnoticed by the producer and such incorrectly or defectively produced multilayer labels could fail in practical use, which can be not only unsatisfactory in any case but even risky under certain circumstances.
The disadvantages and inadequacies explained above were not able to be eliminated by the multilayer label known from the prior art.
Consequently, the object of this invention is providing a multilayer label in which it can be determined, in a technically simple and yet still reliable way, if all layers are present in the way they should be.
Further, the object of this invention is to make it possible for the checking of the proper arrangement of the individual layers in the multilayer label to be performed by machine, i.e., automatically.
Finally, the label is to be produced quickly and economically and, as appropriate, already-available production units will be used to the greatest extent possible.
According to the invention, these objects are achieved by a multilayer label that has at least one safety feature consisting of at least two parts placed on different layers of the label.
Since in the multilayer label according to this invention there is at least one safety feature consisting of at least two parts placed on different layers of the label, it can be determined in a technically surprisingly simple and yet reliable way if all layers of the label are present and even regardless of whether or not the label has two layers or more than two layers. For this purpose there is available, for example, a scanning and checking of the safety feature for completeness and also for proper arrangement or proper composition with a suitable optical procedure.
One skilled in the art will know, in this connection, to appreciate the fact that, with this multilayer label, also an intermixing or interchanging of various types of labels can be precluded with great reliability because in practice each type of label is provided with a different safety feature. In this way it can be prevented that a layer of the multilayer label is from a batch other than another layer of the multilayer label.
With respect to the features essential to the invention, features that are implemented in the form of a safety feature that can be assembled from at least two parts placed on different layers of the label, the checking of the proper arrangement of the individual layers can be performed in a mechanical, i.e., automatic way, whether already during the production process or in an especially preferred way in the context of the finishing final check.
According to an especially inventive further development of this multilayer label, the safety feature involves at least one bar code. Such bar codes generally comprise a series of variably thick lines spaced in varying ways relative to one another and make it possible in this way to store specific data which, in this case, can be relevant to the label itself and/or to the object to be labeled.
If the multilayer label is now equipped according to this invention with a bar code as a safety feature, then it is possible for the bar code to comprise at least two parts placed on different layers of the label.
Here it is suitable to provide some of the lines of the bar code, for example on the bottom layer of the label, and the rest of the lines on the top layer of the label. This technical measure makes it possible for the bar code to be detected in its entirety by a laser beam, for example, only when the different layers of the label are put together correctly, guaranteeing that both layers of the label are present.
Preferably there is also an embodiment in which the lines of the bar code are provided alternately on a bottom layer of the label and on an top layer of the label. This variant too makes it possible to check the arrangement of both layers of the label in an especially precise and reliable way.
If it is desired to take both above-described embodiments for implementing a bar code as a safety feature in an abstract way, an embodiment is preferred according to this invention in which the bar code has m lines of which n lines are placed on one layer of the label and m-n lines are placed on another layer of the label. Here the relation applies for whole, positive numbers m, n where m is larger than n.
With respect to the use of at least one bar code as a safety feature, it is also viewed as a feature essential to the invention of this multilayer label that, in producing labels, after the checks envisioned during the individual production steps, a last, finishing, final check of the finished label must be performed. This final check is generally performed with a code reader by which it is possible to determine not only if all labels are present but also if each label includes all provided layers.
One skilled in the art will appreciate the fact that, in addition to this, by providing at least one bar code as a safety feature, a checking of the label with respect to it belonging to the right batch can be integrated into the final check by the code reader; an especially aggravating and damaging mixing of different batches or individual layers from different batches can consequently be precluded in practice in a convincing way.
In practice, the use of at least one bar code as a safety feature makes it possible to incorporate the final check performed by a code reader in a synergistic way into the process of producing and checking the labels, saving expense and unnecessary costs associated with production.
The above-selected terminology, xe2x80x9cmultilayer label,xe2x80x9d implies that the multilayer-,label according to this invention has two or more than two layers. In this connection, it is highlighted as a feature essential to the invention that the at least one safety feature according to claim 1 of this invention can be distributed to more than two layers, if the multilayer label has not only a bottom layer and a top layer. In this sense, an assembling of the safety feature from three or more parts is conceivable, parts that are located on various layers of the label.
Regardless of the number of layers intended, it is suitable to consider an embodiment in which the lower layer has a larger surface area than the at least one layer placed above it. In this case, a part of the safety feature can be placed on the xe2x80x9cprojectingxe2x80x9d area of the lower layer and be completed by the at least one other part of the safety feature that is provided on one or on several layers placed on top of the lower layer, so that the safety feature is assembled in its entirety from the individual parts. Decisive is that the lower layer not be completely covered by the top layer placed over it but that the part of the lower layer on which the safety feature is placed remain exposed.
The same effect is achieved if, according to an advantageous embodiment of this invention, at least one of the layers is transparent. This configuration is to be used in particular if the parts of the safety feature provided on the lower layers are assembled in coordination with the part of the safety feature provided on the top layer, and it is often suitable to make the top layer transparent.
Preferably at least one of the layers is provided with adhesive on its top side and/or on its bottom side, at least in sections and/or at least at certain points. This adhesive makes it possible, on the one hand, to produce a bond between the individual layers of the multilayer label, i.e., at least two layers of the label can be connected to one another by adhesive; on the other hand, the adhesive can also be used to apply the label to an object. It proves advantageous for this latter purpose if the lower layer is provided with adhesive on its underside, at least in sections and/or at least at certain points.
To make it possible mechanically to dispense the multilayer labels according to this invention, the adhesive that can be provided on the underside of the lower layer at least in sections and/or at least at certain points is suitably coated with an anti-adhesive carrier material. Here the label is located in a suitable way in a row with other labels on the carrier material. This carrier material is made so that a completely automatic dispensing of the label before application to the object is possible without great expense. For this purpose, the carrier material can have, as an underlayer, a sulfate paper to which a silicone layer adheres by a polyethylene (PE) film.
As explained above, the at least one safety feature that can also be designated as a safety element represents an effective and reliable aid for determining the presence of all layers of the multilayer label. The use of the safety element in the framework of this invention can be done advantageously by imprinting the safety feature. Alternatively there are also the preferred variants of stamping or punching the safety feature.
The properties of this multilayer label essential to the invention depend basically on the question of the material used. But it has proven advantageous in practice if at least one of the layers consists of plastic, and the plastic involved is advantageously at least one of the following materials: acrylate, polyester, polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
Usually labels are provided with information by the producer and/or by the user. Consequently at least one imprint or marking is advantageously provided for the multilayer label according to this invention. This imprint or marking can be provided on the top side of the topmost layer; if one or more of the layers used is transparent, there is also the possibility of applying an imprint or marking on or under the intermediate layers.
According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, a stamping and/or at least a punching is provided for the multilayer label and the latter can involve a safety punch by which the label is segmented.
Regardless of this, or in combination with this, the multilayer label, preferably its top layer, can have an adhesive free joining flap on its underside, to enable one or more layers of the label to be pulled off quickly and without problems.